Tom

Rob Jerry figured out a way to bring in Tigers separate from masts and this allowed him to sell the boats as Hobie Tigers with the owner putting the mast onto the platform which solved existing Hobie legal constraints. The Tiger was full F18 compliant and a very good boat, in fact the standard for years. Nacra was already marketing the Inter18 in the US and did not think that the F18 idea would fly in the US because of the light winds... They had gone the way of powering up all of their boats for the US market and that is how they introduced the Inter 18. the Inter 18 had a carbon stick and bigger sail then the EU F18 rule. Eventually, Mark Biggers and CRAM decided to change course and get inline with the F18 plan BUT the CRAM fleet had no interest in measuring boats and sails. the NAF18 group was formed with a joint decision by Hobie Nacra and Mystere to use a rule set that differed from the Internatonal rule. The idea was that Mystere and Nacra would build boats for the F18 rule... just like the Tiger but they would not measure the things because that was too much of a headache So, the agreement was that if the factory sold it... it was class legal. The minimums were lowered a bit to ensure that every boat would measure in. Basically this was irrelevent since Nacra and Mystere were builing boats for the EU market where they were measured. They grandfathered the Nacra inter 18 mast to jump start the class and they decided to exclude the N5.5 sloop or TheMightyHobie18 from being upgraded to F18 status as well.... (no measurers around.) The factories even ran a joint F18 NA's in the beginning. It looked like with both major US builders on board the F18 would really take off. Still the different rules grated on some sailors... (eg nacra was cheating and sending light boats to the US market.) Although it stomped on the F18HT class which also started at this time.. The 20 or so F18HT sailors did not migrate back to F18's... rather they moved on to A cats or other boats. Hobie brought the Tiger worlds to the west coast ... but the Tiger SMOD idea (Crew weight and sail area did not match the F18 rules) did not kill the F18 class nor did the Tiger class blossum either.

Something big happened though which seemed to stall the growth of F18 racing. What we observed was that the factories took to running manufacture only nationals. The reason given was that ISAF international class status requires these regattas and both factories needed to have the US having the proper number of boats at the nacra and hobie NA's. All the factories had an eye on Olympic status as well and full ISAF status was viewed as important.
Attendance suffered at national events because nobody could afford TWO, week long NA's.. (your SMOD regatta and the F18 NA's It became tough to get critical mass.. The Tigers were forced to cancel the NA's at St Francis Yacht club at the last minute because of a lack of interest just a few years after the Tiger worlds). The NAF18 class figured out that while dealer and manufacturer support was great.. control had problems and over a couple of years they eventually decided to dump the NAF18 rules and get in full compliance with the F18 international class rules and do the bottom up class management that most OD classes follow, they now have measurers in place.

A big help was Capricorn which entered the US market and since Nacra produced two F18's after the Inter 18. these three boats (Cap, F18 and Infusion) along with the Tiger helped to break up real US bent on strict OD racing... So the Forumla idea got more US acceptance over time slowly wining over the SMOD mindset of US sailors.

One of the big events that played into the F18 history was the beginning of the Hobie Edict about two or three years after Rob started sailing the Tiger. Supposedly spun up by the introduction of A cats and a dealer/fan at a big Hobie events in the Pacific Northwest and then driven by US dealers and the IHCA... The game was changed and sailors had to pick F18 or SMOD Tiger. Hobie decided to really push the Tiger One Design in the US and not the F18 concept. Tiger sailing had a good run on the West coast following the worlds (despite the following St Francis fubar) Yacht clubs supported F18 sailing and that seems to have worked out on the west coast as they get ready for F18 worlds in next year or so. The Hobie edict also followed Nigel Pitt's leadership of the NAHCA and the Hobie Mega. Nigel took the stand that all cat racing was good but sadly that scene ended as a huge upset after the edict and Hobie politics worked the way through the system. This caused some of those sailors to flip to Nacra's as the clubs in the south rejected the Hobie only deal.

Since all racing is local in the end... SMOD regattas stopped F18 class growth in a couple of areas of the country. Moreover, the Nacra 20 really met the needs for the big boys and the F18 could not quickly kill off the N20 class...(Still hasn't and those guys are still fighting) especially with distance racing a big part of the spinnaker boat appeal.

Canada never had these culture wars... the F18 class worked for them and they frequently have more turnout at Canadians F18's then either Hobie or Nacra SMOD events or the F18 NA's.

So... here we sit... Tiger one design sailing in Upstate New York and the Pacific Northwest. F18 sailing in the South and Southwest, growing in New England N20's going down and F18's going up .. and doing well on the Pacific coast existing with Tiger one design sailing. Oh.. and over time the CRAM sailors... moved on to nacra 17's along with an F18. CRAW has similar numbers of F18's and 20's.

The big hope is that the F18 worlds will really kick the class up a notch or so... Your stock Tiger is fully F18 compliant and perhaps the Wildcat gets some love from Hobie sailors as well to balance the number of Cap and Infusion fans.